


Night Whispers

by isabeau, Miriam (isabeau)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Gen, Really old fic (pre-2000)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-01-01
Updated: 2000-01-01
Packaged: 2017-10-18 07:27:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/186429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isabeau/pseuds/isabeau, https://archiveofourown.org/users/isabeau/pseuds/Miriam
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Spike first met Angelus (before the gypsy curse, of course).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Night Whispers

The night was dark and cold enough to breed nightmares and give flesh to  
the darkest fantasies. A thin film of cloud over the half-full moon gave  
a ghostlike sheen to everything. Cold fingers of wind, like invisible  
sprites playing tag amongh the trees, caressed leaves, grass, and anyone  
foolish enough to show themselves.

William Martin Andrew St. Peter loved the night.

Hands shoved deep into his pockets, face bare to the cold air, he wandered  
the woods. As always, he was alone-- by preference, though he would have  
been hard pressed to find a companion. His family was far too  
superstitious to venture out at night. He didn't mind; he liked  
solitude.

Without warning, the relative silence of the night was broken by someone  
crashing through the underbrush. That someone stumbled against William,  
shrieked, and then clung to him tightly.

"He's following me, he is, an' he wants to kill me an' take my soul, oh  
God oh God, save me--" She collapsed against William, sobbing, obviously  
well past hysteria.

"There, there," he murmured distractedly, but his eyes were on the shadows  
of the forest behind her. A shadow glided among the other shadows--  
 _could be a trick of the night,_ he told himself-- but then he could  
barely make out a face, almost human, eyes glowing with a queer demonic  
glow. 'I will kill you,' the eyes seemed to say, 'right after I kill  
her.'

William's mouth quirked. _Fine,_ he answered silently. _I'd like  
to see you try!_

The woman gasped, and her thin hands clutched at William's arms with a  
strength born of panic. "He's here," she stammered, "I can feel it, oh  
God, please, I don't want to die"

The eyes behind her flashed with-- anger, William suspected, or  
irritation. 'So terribly sad,' he imagined the creature saying, 'but it's  
a little too late for that.'

"Let me help," he murmured, not taking his eyes off the demon eyes.

"Thank you," the woman babbled, "oh thank you..."

William smiled coldly, looking at her for the first time. "I never said I  
was helping _you_ ," he pointed out calmly, and shoved her towards the  
shadowy hunter.

She screamed, shrilly. William could see the creature bend over her neck,  
and the screams stopped.

"Nice," he murmured to no one in particular. "So, there really _are_  
demons that walk the night."

He heard a faint growl; no footfalls sounded, but when he turned, the  
hunter stood behind him. Moonlight fell directly on his face, which was  
now perfectly human.

"Thank you for catching my daughter," the man said solemnly. "She tends  
to get delusions that everyone else is some evil beast sent by the Devil."  
He shook his head slightly, and turned to go.

William didn't know whether to be amused or annoyed at what was so  
obviously a lie. "You're not fooling me," he said in a low voice. "I saw  
you, saw what you...are. She was right, wasn't she? You _are_ some  
sort of demon, aren't you?"

A moment of silence passed, while the man looked at William as if weighing  
options, and then the face shifted, into a distorted mockery of a human  
face. "Yes. But I drink blood, not souls." William caught a glimpse of  
lengthened canines, and nodded to himself. _Vampire, then. I like  
that._

The vampire-hunter stalked forward, until his face was inches away from  
William's. His breath smelled like stale air and half-rotting blood, and  
his gold inhuman eyes glared as if they could look through William to his  
soul, but William didn't flinch. "I," the hunter breathed, "should kill  
you."

William cocked his head, considering. "You've got blood on your chin," he  
returned cheerfully. The vampire drew back, and rubbed the blood away.  
"What makes you think you need to kill me?"

"Because you know." The vampire's voice, like the night wind, was cold  
and unforgiving. "I can hardly have people running around who know that I  
exist, can I?"

William smiled. A thrill of fear ran down his back, but it was a pleasant  
sensation. Instead of answering the question, he remarked casually: "Your  
technique could be better."

The vampire looked at him in surprise, as if wondering why this human  
wasn't cowering before him. _Because I could fight you,_ William  
thought contemptuously, _and I'd have a good chance of winning._

"I mean," he continued, shrugging, "all you do is chase and feed. Can't  
you think of better things to do? Don't you get _bored_? My dear  
man-- er, vampire-- you need to be creative. Play with your victims more!  
I don't know-- drink from the wrists, from the knee, prolong their terror  
before they die. Pretend to be their rescuer, until you get them alone.  
Various things."

The vampire's face was expressionless-- or at least, if there was an  
expression, William couldn't read it under the wrinkles and ridges. At  
last he said, "It's a shame you're mortal. We could use a mind like  
yours."

"Take it," William said, almost smirking. "Make me one of you. Hell, my  
family's been after me for a long time to get an apprenticeship.  
Nothing's really interested me until now."

Finally the ghost of a smile appeared on the vampire's lips. "I'll think  
about it."

Another moment of silence, and then the vampire turned to leave. "Hey,"  
William called out. "What's your name? How can I find you?"

The vampire had melted into the shadows, but he could still speak:  
"Angelus. And I'll find you. And if you're not worthy, I'll feed."

William Martin Andrew St. Peter, who as a vampire would be known as  
William the Bloody, just smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> (written before we had official backstory on Spike before he was a vampire)


End file.
